Early in my career as a developer, I worked, at two different companies, on two major large-scale, high-stakes projects, both of which failed spectacularly. Th

Early in my career as a developer, I worked, at two different companies, on two major large-scale, high-stakes projects, both of which failed spectacularly. That was without a doubt some of my most valuable experience as a developer. I learned that a lot of what is passed off as conventional wisdom is pure bullshit. I learned that a lot of people focus too much on the latest and greatest tools, technologies, methodologies, etc., and too little on creating and shipping robust, well-crafted software. For the latter half of my career, I've been calling the shots, and I've shipped a lot of code, and made a lot of money for myself and my employer, by staying focused on results and not getting distracted by the never-ending stream of bullshit that plagues my profession.